BWT-juvi male

Ron,
beautiful flight pose and excellent detail. I like the reeds in the background for their colors and their irregular height. I have just started to use the 500 + TC and my experience was immediately very positive. It's a great way to have more reach.

This is very nice Ron. I like the reeds for color and environment. At 1120mm you could be in the next county .
Great get.
RickT

Richard T. thanks for the comment. Funny you mention being in the next county. It has always amazed me how close birds really need to be to get near full-frame images, especially smaller species. This teal ended up landing right in front of me, so it was not far at all, def not the next county. I am really striving for near full-frame as the amount of visible detail is just so much higher if you do not have to crop much. I was tired of almost getting the detail I wanted with the 500 alone, so I went back to the 1.4x TC. It made a difference right away. Nice to have one that works correctly.

I knew whose this was as soon as I saw it - you've become the master of these flight shots. But you still need to put your copyright on each posted image.

You are correct Rich, I should put my copyright on my images. For some reason I got out of that habit.

Another amazing flight shot Ron - Rich is right, you're unparallelled with them. What makes it so amazing is that it's almost full frame and hand held with that lens and tc. The duck looks great. The reeds are just a little bright to be ideal for me but that's a taste thing and mine certainly is not the best at times. Impressive image.

Ron, I agree, the reeds are bright. That is why I mentioned that some people will not like them. Unfortunately, I cannot bring them down without making them look really unnatural. I tried to work with them, but I just was not happy with any of the results, so I left them alone.

Rich M., I believe there is software out there that can take the images the size we post and extrapolate the data and print some pretty nice looking larger versions, but I have not explored it much. Really, the only way you can make sure your images are not used without your permission is to not post them on the web anywhere. If someone really wants your images, they will take them and use them copyright or not. However, by putting your copyright on images you give yourself the legal footing to do something about unauthorized use if you want to persue it. I just don't think I would ever have the time or energy to persue the issue, unless someday I make an unbelievable award winning, never to be bested by anybody else type of image. Highly unlikely!

I like the background.

Wonderful image, Ron. No nits. I like the reeds. Re: copyright notice, it is no longer a legal requirement to have it on your image to establish your copyright. However, it does make it difficult for someone to claim "innocent infringement". (I think such a defence would be difficult anyway because of all the warnings on this website re: copyright.). It is nice advertising though too.
See: http://inventors.about.com/od/copyrights/a/CopyrightNotice.htm

Great effort for full frame Ron, you really nailed him.

cheers
Rob

Excellent, Ron, interesting to hear about the difference btw the two TCs, and certainly impressive work handholding. Certainly agree with you about the need to be awfully close to get a shot with good detail--even on fairly large birds, it's surprising how close they have to come to fill the frame.

The pose here is really nice--has a real 3D feel to it. The reeds here look good to me.

Well captured Ron...I like the BG myself!

LOVE the reeds, although I'd perhaps tone them down a bit to focus on the duck.
Great pose and detail in the duck, and nice comp.
Sandy

Another killer shot Ron. How are you set up to get this at nearly FF?
PS-the new TC rocks!

I agree, the reeds BG add a sense of depth and location/habitat Ron.
What's the alternative? A solid blue? I much prefer this
Glad to hear your TC is working out for ya. Just don't drop it on anything hard of course..
I dropped a 1.4x tele on the floor a few years ago..I'm still bitching about it

Ron,

I love the wonderful eye contact you have with the duck in this image, the pose, details & sharpness. I like the depth the reeds in the background provide for the image but I do think I might tone them down very slightly or at least the one the goes behind the head of the duck. Still, an inspiring image because I know how fast these teals fly